Lower Back Pain: Your Sciatic Nerve May Be the Culprit

On any given day, 31 million Americans are suffering from lower back pain. It’s important to get to the root of the issue when it comes to treatment for back pain. What if the pain in your lower back, buttocks, and legs is due to your sciatic nerve?

Continue reading to learn how your sciatic nerve may be causing your lower back pain.

Where Is Your Sciatic Nerve?

Your sciatic nerve is a group of nerves that branch off in the lower half of your body. It begins in the lower back and continues down into the hips/buttock before running down each leg. The nerve reaches all the way down into the toes before ending. You can have a pinched sciatic nerve on either side of your body.

What Is Sciatica?

Sciatica isn’t exactly a health condition, but the symptom of an underlying issue. Sciatica is the result of compression, irritation, or inflammation on the sciatic nerve. In 90% of cases, sciatic nerve pain is due to herniated or bulging discs in the lumbar spine.

However, the cause of sciatica might also include:

• Spinal stenosis
• Trauma involving spinal cord injury
• Piriformis syndrome
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spinal tumor

Unfortunately, sciatica can cause debilitating back pain. This can cause a disturbance in your life because you’re unable to sleep comfortably or you can’t function properly through the pain.

How Can It Cause Back Pain?

When the nerve is pinched, it causes this pain to radiate through the entire length of the nerve. The pain can be described as sharp, shooting pains that travel through the entire lower body, beginning in the lower back and ending in the legs. It can also cause a burning type of sensation.

Treatment Options for Lower Back Pain

It is time to seek help for back pain if you are having lower back pain due to sciatic nerve issues. The sooner you make an appointment, the sooner you will be able to find some sciatica relief from your lower back pain.

The treatments available for back pain/sciatica are:

• Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections
• Lumbar Transforaminal Epidural Injections
• Lumbar Medial Branch Block
• Lumbar Radio Frequency Ablation
• Kyphoplasty
• Spinal Cord Stimulation

If your appointment isn’t immediate, you may need to find some relief right now. If it is your sciatic nerve, you can find relief by alternating ice and heat on your back while taking over-the-counter pain relievers to block pain and reduce inflammation in the affected area. You can also find some great stretches to alleviate the pain caused by compression on the sciatic nerve.

Get Lower Back Pain Relief Today

You don’t have to live with your lower back pain. In fact, you can get medical treatment to help get you back to normal in just a few weeks or months. If you think that your sciatic nerve is to blame, it’s time to talk to your doctor to find some back pain relief.

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